Jailing of Fail Alsynov for ‘inciting hatred’ sparks protests; Dmytro Kuleba said his country’s priority for 2024 was to gain control over its skies

Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has updated his X account with details of his numerous meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.

Zelenskiy said he met Polish president, Andrzej Duda to discuss their bilateral relations, including “cooperation on Ukraine’s path to EU membership”. He said the battlefield situation and further defence assistance for Ukraine was discussed. Zelenskiy added that the pair had acoordinated their positions ahead of the Nato summit in Washington.

Ukraine president speaks at World Economic Forum in Davos; European Commission president says Europe ‘must empower Ukraine’s resistance’

The Kremlin has declined to comment on a Bloomberg report that Chinese state-owned banks are tightening curbs on funding to Russian clients for fear of US secondary sanctions, describing it as a highly sensitive topic.

Asked about the report, the spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said it was a matter for the companies and departments involved, and not for the Kremlin, Reuters reports.

This is a very, very sensitive area and it is unlikely that anyone will undertake to talk about it – you shouldn’t expect that.

We continue to develop relations with China; it’s our very important strategic partner.

It is unclear how Ukraine succeeded in shooting down the command planes flying above the Sea of Azov

Ukraine’s military has shot down two of Russia’s command planes, in one of the most disastrous days for the Kremlin’s air power since the start of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s commander in chief, said his air force had destroyed an A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and an Il-22 control centre plane. Both were flying above the Sea of Azov on Sunday when they were hit at 9.10pm local time.

Stéphane Séjourné meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv during first official visit abroad and says Ukraine ‘will remain France’s priority’

President Zelenskiy said he and Séjourné had discussed Ukraine’s defence needs including joint production of drones and artillery.

He posted on X :“We discussed Ukraine’s defense needs, including joint production of drones, artillery, and further strengthening of air defense. I updated Minister Séjourné on the Peace Formula’s progress. I thank France for its active role in this global effort.”

France’s newly appointed foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday on his first official visit abroad, vowing that Paris would maintain its support. “Despite the multiplying crises, Ukraine is and will remain France’s priority,” Séjourné told Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, at a joint news conference earlier Saturday.

Russia’s justice ministry designated one of the country’s most popular fiction writers a foreign agent because of his opposition to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The historical detective stories of Boris Akunin, the pen name of Georgian-born Grigori Chkhartishvili, used to be bestsellers in Russia before the authorities turned on him for what they said were his unacceptable anti-Russian views.

A prominent liberal priest faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine. In a verdict published on Saturday, a church court said Aleksiy Uminsky should be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath.

Ukraine suffered a massed Russian missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, its air force said, adding that Moscow had fired some of its most fearsome hypersonic missiles. Air defences shot down Russian missiles in at least five regions across Ukraine, according to local officials from those provinces. However, no details were given on whether any targets were hit, and far less information about the attack than usual was provided by officials. Ukraine’s air force warned during the attack that Russia had fired Kinzhal missiles - perhaps the hardest conventional Russian missile to shoot down, moving at several times the speed of sound.

Russia, meanwhile, said it had destroyed all targets in a barrage of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine. “This morning the armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike … against facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex,” the defence ministry said in a daily briefing. It said it was targeting places producing shells, gunpowder and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Zelenskiy will speak in person at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos on Tuesday, according to the WEF’s event programme. Forum president Børge Brende last week told reporters Zelenskiy would give an address during the event, while more than 70 national security advisers from around the world would on Sunday discuss ways forward on the Ukrainian president’s peace plan.

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here

Russia’s defence ministry has said it destroyed its targets in a series of strikes on facilities producing ammunition and drones in Ukraine.

“This morning the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike ... against facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex,” the defence ministry said in a daily briefing, AFP reports.

The blackout comes as temperatures fell to about -15 C in many parts of the country

Russia hit multiple settlements in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region over the past 24 hours, injuring two civilians, the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, has said.

In the village of Dvorichna, a Russian attack at 17:30 injured a 57-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman, the governor wrote on Telegram.

UK at risk of ‘falling behind’ in its military support for Ukraine, former defence minister warns; Russia can be reined in under international law – Zelenskiy

• See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage

Ukrainian president says Moscow ‘aggression can be defeated’, in address to conference in Sweden

• At a glance: what we know on day 683

As of 1 January 2024, 3,428 educational institutions have been damaged and 365 destroyed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the education and science committee of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

The data, which has not been independently verified by the Guardian, was cited from saveschools.in.ua documents.

Michel plans to take up his seat in the European parliament mid-July if he’s elected, meaning EU leaders will have to agree quickly on a successor for his vacated council post.

If they don’t, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, whose country will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in July, would lead the meetings – a broker-role normally undertaken by the European Council president.